The Offical Tennis thread (3 Viewers)

[Sweets]

Yeh the rankings are still pretty much the same. Fed has about a 2000 point lead over the next closest person to him which is Hewitt.

Most significant things to happen in the rankings this week are Rafael Nadal moving to no.11 in the world, I think if he makes the quarters in Barcelona he will enter the top 10. First teenager since Hewitt I think to enter the top-10. Although im not entirely sure about that.

Another signficant move. Richard Gasquet moving from no.101 to 40ish due to his semi in Monte Carlo.

 

[angelduck]

Go Nadal!!!

How lonmg b4 Molik is in top 5 u recon?

 

[jm1234567890]

unfortunatelly, never.

Now that belgium is back.

 

[Sweets]

unfortunatelly, never.

Now that belgium is back.

The tennis order is being restablished. I do have to say event though it pains me to cause i love Myskina, the Russian devolution is occuring. Apart from Sharapova and Dementieva most of the Russians have be lacklustre this season. And even Sharapova and Dementieva both lost to one of the Belgians in recent Tier1 finals when they just came back from injury.

Molik in my opinion though does have a good chance at Wimbledon though and who knows what could happen from there. Womens tennis is very open at the moment. Anything could happen.

 

[Sweets]

Results from Barcelona

Second round
Gaston Gaudio (ARG x2) bt Felix Mantilla (ESP) 6-4, 6-2
Jose Acasuso (ARG) bt Marat Safin (RUS x1) 6-4, 6-4
David Ferrer (SPA x13) bt Jan Hernych (CZE) 6-2, 6-3
Stanislav Wawrinka (SWI) bt Paradorn Srichaphan (THA x15) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3)
Guillermo Canas (ARG x5) bt Wayne Arthurs (AUS) 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x8) bt Gilles Muller (LUX) 6-0, 6-2
Dominik Hrbaty (SVK x10) bt Potito Starace (ITA) 6-3, 6-2
Agustin Calleri (ARG) bt Juan Chela (ARG x14) 6-3, 6-7 (9/11), 7-6 (7/1)
Guillermo Coria (ARG x4) bt Peter Wessels (NED) 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4
Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP x12) 6-4, 6-4
Alberto Martin (ESP) bt Tommy Robredo (ESP x6) 6-1, 6-4
Radek Stepanek (CZE x11) bt Santiago Ventura (ESP) 6-3, 6-2

 

[Sweets]

Marat Marat Marat another early round loss . It's so tough being Marat fan, there are high but so many lows. Anyway I will remain faithful to the Hippo. I wonder where all those post-AO Marat fans have gone now?


Safin vows to halt slump
From correspondents in Barcelona
April 21, 2005

AUSTRALIAN Open champion Marat Safin has vowed to battle through a slump which is wrecking his tennis season.

The scratchy Russian top seed bowed out in the second round of the Barcelona Open overnight, going down 6-4 6-4 without a fight to Argentine journeyman Jose Acasuso.


And fifth seed Guillermo Canas beat Australia's Wayne Arthurs 7-5 7-6 (7-3).

Safin's knockout, in 1hr 33min, left him worried as his season slide continues unchecked.

"I slowed down after Australian," admitted the two-time Grand Slam holder, a former world No.1.

"I haven't been able to win two rounds anywhere.

"It's frustrating being in this condition. The only solution is to run, to fight."

Safin, who never got a sniff at a break point against his 69th-ranked opponent while losing serve once per set, said he's known for weeks that the worst could come as he fails to follow up on his Melbourne success, which included a semi-final win over Roger Federer.

"I knew I'd be losing match after match. It's frustrating, it's difficult to come back. it's so much tougher than when you're playing well. It's all frustration and pressure for me.

"I'm under pressure to come back as fast as I can with the important tournaments coming up."

 

[m123]

whats the kick serve? and how do you do it?

 

[angelduck]

Im confused, why did he loose in 2 sets? Dont men play at least 3??

 

[jm1234567890]

Im confused, why did he loose in 2 sets? Dont men play at least 3??

only in grand slams and the finals of masters.

 

[jm1234567890]

whats the kick serve? and how do you do it?

a kick serve is where you hit up on the ball sharply during the serve, so when the ball bounces it kicks up really high and your opponent will have trouble returning it with power.

the pros can generally kick the ball to head height, which is pretty crazy. Not an easy serve to do.

 

[Benny_]

I'm not expecting Marat to do great things on clay, it's too big an ask for him to go from getting whipped on clay to winning Roland Garros, so I think he should withdraw for now and jump on grass and play some futures to prepare for Wimbledon. The guy's the 2nd most talented on tour, he just needs to sort his confidence problems out and losing to clay courters isn't the way to go.

 

[sarevok]

"I'm not expecting Marat to do great things on clay, it's too big an ask for him to go from getting whipped on clay to winning Roland Garros, so I think he should withdraw for now and jump on grass and play some futures to prepare for Wimbledon. "

don't think Marat will do that. he's long said that clay is his favourite surface and that winning roland garros is his dream. plus he's made the semi-finals of the french before and does fairly well on the surface, usually reaching the fourth round, whilst at wimbledon he made the quarterfinals one year but apart from that hasn't progressed past the second round. in fact last year after losing at wimbledon he said he hates the tournament so much he's never going to come back, only to retract the statement a couple of days later.

 

[Benny_]

Didn't know he said that. Well if clay's really his favourite surface, then he'll only need a long lasting confidence booster to be THE complete player. I know he's strugged on grass so far, but all hardcourt champs overcome that problem sooner or later. Go Marat!

 

[jm1234567890]

http://www.somaxsports.com/RoddickServe.htm

from the google ads on this page, interesting

 

[angelduck]

"It is obvious looking at Roddick that he does not pack extra muscle on his frame"

I think that websites a bit bias, hes got good stomach muscles

*wipes away drool*

 

[mizz_smee]

love roddick and nadal... my two faves then closely followed by safin
i cant wait to get foxtel back
i miss all the tennis
its not the same just reading about it.

 

[angelduck]

i would kill for foxtel, stupid free-to-air has like no sport

 

[Sweets]

Marat, is a fabulous clay courter. When he made the semi's of Roland Garros a couple of years ago he played beautiful tennis to get there. Only to play a shit match against Ferrero. He trained in Spain growing up, so he is very comfortable on clay.

Him, losing on clay is not indicative of his real potential on clay, i mean before the clay season he was losing to players he should beat on hardcourt too. But that's just Marat.


Ferrero is in the freaking final of Barcelona! It's about freaking time, he showed the world he is back. He will face either Rafa or Stephanek. Ok, most probably Rafa.

Rafa is also officially in the world's top 10 now, as of Monday.

 

[mizz_smee]

i would kill for foxtel, stupid free-to-air has like no sport

they barely show any tennis that isnt the aus open.

Rafa is also officially in the world's top 10 now, as of Monday.

yay for him

 

[angelduck]

Congrats Nadal!

Yeah, stupid tv, damn it!